Worriers and Hypochondriacs Live Longer

Ask any of my co-workers, and they will tell you: I'm one the biggest unnecessary worriers they know. They, and you, should take notice of this blog because it could mean I will live longer!

A study was done by the University of Edinburgh and published by the Daily Mail that said people who worry about their health excessively--aka "hypochondriacs"--tend to live longer. This is because they will more likely take extra precautions like slathering on hand sanitizer and sunscreen (and possibly over-checking symptoms on WebMD). That makes good sense.

Mental worriers (where I may or may not fit into the equation), referred to in the article as "neurotics"--people who suffer from regular feelings of guilt, sadness and other emotional tendencies--necessary or not, were found to live longer--as long as they also considered themselves in less than good physical health, too. Again, it's basically because they're thinking more about how to take care of their problems.

Long story short: separately, poor health and high anxiety are bad. Put them together and they seem to be good for you. Who knew?